Naruto: Force Unleashed EX
by xNamikazeKyuubix
Summary: Complete Rewrite of the original Force Unleashed! Unable to draw out the Kyuubi's chakra in time as he plummeted to his death, a supposed fatalistic end awaited Uzumaki Naruto. Instead he found something amazing within his end, he found an ancient power that lay dormant for centuries. Through this power he is given new purpose, he will show the world the Force Unleashed!
1. Chapter 1

**A long time ago, in a galaxy that we are currently residing in. An aspiring male writer begin his quest for adventure and fame with one of his written works known as Naruto: Force Unleashed. Unfortunately his noble quest was halted by the power of the dark side, its powerful allure of video games and anime was too much. The dark side unleashed its most powerful technique upon the slowly weakening author, it was the dreaded spell known only as 'Writers Block'.**

**Now many years later, with the cursed spell finally having been dispersed by the power of a counter technique known as 'Divine Inspiration' and the writer is once again free to remake his uncompleted attempt. Now backed with the power of a thousand fallen souls beside him, he will conquer the dreaded Writers Block and SAVE THE GALAXY!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I own Star Wars or any franchises related to them, the only thing I own is the idea and creativity behind this story.**

* * *

><p><span>Prologue: In Death may we find Life<span>

_Konohagakure no Sato_

_Endless Chasm_

_0900hrs_

Throughout the course of history, the saying that you would witness your life flash before your eyes as you were about to die was rather well known. Apparently nobody had informed the screaming blond-haired boy of this saying as the only thoughts going through his head as he plummeted to his death were along the lines of.

'Oh Kami! I am going to die!'

'I haven't even gotten Sakura-chan to go on a date with me!'

'I still haven't kicked Sasuke-teme's ass in a fair match!'

'I'M GOING TO KILL THAT TOAD HUMPING PERVERT!'

Having stopped screaming as it was just a waste of breath, the boy placed his hands together in a handseal and closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to focus as he tumbled in freefall towards the bottom of the chasm. A faint blue aura glowed around him as sweat started to bead around his forehead, eyes twitching as he tried to concentrate on drawing out more of his inner power known as chakra. Underneath his obscenely bright orange jacket, an intricate seal fizzled to life upon his stomach as it pulsed slightly.

Uzumaki Naruto was in a dire situation, a situation he was in due to his insane new mentor kicking him off the edge of a cliff and into Konoha's deepest chasm. Now that he put some thought into it, maybe the white-haired pervert was just another villager that hated him. Using his desperation for a proper mentor to lower his guard, then now succeeded in disposing of him without any trace left behind. To make matters worse, the Kyuubi no Yoko which was sealed inside him at birth was also refusing to release any of its chakra to the blond.

He could feel the tears building up in his eyes as he realised that this would probably be the end of his life, he would never get to fulfil his dream of becoming the most powerful Hokage. Before he could contemplate more, his eyes and mouth opened in a silent scream as he rammed into a rock outcropping from the side of the chasm. The impact easily shattering several of his ribs as he bounced off and continued to plummet, only in a heap of pain this time.

'F-fuck… can't stay… conscious…' Naruto thought and as if some deity had heard his prayer, unconsciousness took him as he finally collided with the floor of the chasm with a sickening crunch and spray of red viscous liquid.

_Konohagakure no Sato_

_Endless Chasm Entrance_

_0910_

A white-haired man with a rather large stature paced back and forth in front of the massive chasm that lay before him, his face was pale with rivulets of sweat dripping down. He paused for a moment and glanced down the impressive gap in the earth for a few seconds before resuming his pacing, only he was biting his finger nails now too.

'Kuso… where is the gaki? He should have ascended back up the chasm by riding one of the larger Toad summons by now, the Kyuubi would have surely wanted to preserve its own life…' Jiraiya of the Sannin was usually a rather aloof person, which was the total opposite of what he was currently feeling.

Several further minutes of pacing later and the Toad Sage was hyperventilating as he stared down the chasm while on his knees, eyes desperately searching the dark abyss for some kind of sign. He felt tears stinging the edge of his vision as the horrible realisation of what he had just done settled in, he had just killed a child that had not even begin reaching his teen years. Not just any child, he had just murdered the child of the man that he had considered his own son.

"Naruto! Please answer me! I'm sorry! Naruto!" Jiraiya shouted into the chasm, his voice echoing off the walls but there was no response. 'I just killed him… I murdered Naruto… Minato… fuck… I'm so sorry Minato…'

Jiraiya let the tears flow unobstructed down his face and into the chasm, tears of guilt, sorrow, repentance and many other emotions escaping the man in that instance. As the thought settled further into his mind, the white-haired sage found himself considering the act of Seppuku (Ritual Suicide by disembowelment). It sure as hell would not bring his godson back but at the very least, it would grant him release from this life so that he may not have to face the people that had loved the blond-haired boy.

'Yet I can't even do that… Konoha still needs me around. And I still have many regrets that I have not yet settled as well… fuck! What is sensei going to say when I tell him? He's probably going to kill me…' Jiraiya thought morosely, pulling himself back up to his own feet and beginning a slow trudge back towards the Hokage Tower.

_Location Unknown_

_0915_

_Ba-dump_

_Ba-dump_

_Ba-dump_

Darkness was all there was to see, floating in an endless void of nothingness. He could discern the sound of his own heartbeat amidst the silence, a slow rhythmic thumping that echoed inside his head. Where was he? What happened? How did he end up in this situation? Questions upon questions piled up inside his head before a sudden moment of clarity struck him.

'The Chunnin Exams… I was training for the finals. That man… he pushed me down into the hole… just like the rest… nobody will acknowledge me…'

Naruto seemed to shrink in upon himself at these thoughts, curling up into a fetal position as his body floating through the void.

'Nobody wants me… Kakashi pawned me off to a random instructor…'

'Sakura thinks I am an annoyance… she would never go out with me…'

'Sasuke thinks that I'm holding him back… that I'm just a dobe…'

'Even the Kyuubi would rather die than continue existing inside me… I am… unwanted…'

Feeling a sudden overwhelming urge to sleep, he decided to give in as his eyelids fluttered shut and his breathing started to even out and slow down. Just as he was about to surrender himself to the void, a strange sensation surrounded his body in a way that intrigued him enough to crack his eyes open again. Wrapped around his form and drifting in the void around him were wisps of translucent bright-blue energy that seemed to flow like water.

'**Greetings young one.'**

The voice had the same properties as the energy, liquid-like, velvety and seemed to just flow into his head.

'Hello? Is someone else here?'

'**We are here, yet at the same time we are not. We are everywhere… yet we are nowhere.'**

'…okay? So what are you doing here Voice-san?'

'**The same reason you are young one.'**

'And that is?'

'**To find a purpose.'**

This seemed to stun the blond-haired boy for a moment, not expecting to find another kindred soul in the desolate empty void that he had found himself in.

'How long have you been here? Did you manage to find your purpose?'

'**We have been waiting for a long time, too long for any of your kind to comprehend. We seek purpose, yet nobody could hear our calls… until now.'**

'Does that mean you have found your purpose? What is it?'

'**You. You are our purpose.' **Seeing the confused expression that had appeared on the boy, the voice decided to elaborate. **'Our calls have always carried on unheard but you heard us… you can feel us.'**

'What… what are you?'

'**We go by many names. The One. Mother Nature. Fate. Destiny. These are all names that people use to describe us. However we are known just as the Force. We are the force that drives this planet and its diverse forms of life, we are the force that holds everything together, and we are the force that binds people together.'**

As the voice explained, though the explanation was vague and uninformative. Naruto realised that he somehow suddenly knew what the voice was talking about, he could feel what the voice was talking about. He could feel the energy flowing over his form, he could also feel the energy flowing through his form as it granted him clarity and the feeling that he could accomplish anything.

'What am I supposed to do? The last thing I remembered is an intense feeling of pain as I fell to my death… I don't even know how I got here.'

'**Rest assured that it is not yet your time to join us young one. Your tenant is to thank for that, your body is currently being healed by the energy of the sealed entity.'**

'Kyuubi? The Kyuubi is healing me? I thought that it wanted me to die…'

'**I cannot answer on behalf of Kyuubi. That answer is something you will have to seek on your own. However I can grant you an answer to your original question. My power is for you to accomplish what you will, be it for good or evil. I am neither light nor dark, how you wield me is entirely up to your own discretion.'**

Naruto stared silently into the dark void as he processed what the voice, the Force, had just told him. He now had a second chance at life, wielding a powerful new kind of energy that nobody before him had possessed before. He could use this newfound power to hurt all who have ever wronged him or he could use it to make them acknowledge him.

'I…I will show them… I will show them all that I am not a failure. I will prove to them that Uzumaki Naruto is not a failure.'

'**If that is what you wish, I will instruct you in the ways of the Force.'**

'What will I be able to accomplish with this Force power?'

'**You will be able to grasp objects with just your mind, focusing the energy into an explosive blast or into a vortex that will pull everything towards you. You will be able to influence the thoughts of weak-willed people, the ability to convert the Force into arcs of lightning that will sear your opponents. That is just the beginning.'**

'How am I supposed to train in your ways?'

'**Right now we are inside your mind young one. Your body was heavily damaged by the fall and even with my assistance, the Kyuubi will take several weeks to fully restore your body to its peak condition.'**

'The finals of the Chunnin Exams are in a months' time! How am I supposed to train for it when my body is still recovering?'

'**Right now I have entered you into a Meditative Trance, it is a special ability that Force-users can use. While in a Meditative Trance, time passes five times slower while you are in this trance so only an hour passes in the outside world for every five inside here. During this period, I will instruct you on the basis of Force powers and train you up into a proper Force-user.'**

'What about food and water? Won't my body die due to a lack of them?'

'**That is another feature of a Meditative Trance, your metabolism rate slows to a crawl while in the trance. It is almost like you are hibernating during this period, combined with your tenant healing you, your body will remain in working condition albeit a little malnourished.'**

'Okay, I'm just going to pretend I understood what you just said.'

'**In simpler terms, it is like your body will be asleep for the entire month.'**

'Oh! So how when do we start?'

'**Right now.'**

_Hokage Office_

_0915_

"Let me get this straight… you thought it would be a good idea to throw Naruto down into the Endless Chasm just because you wanted him to access the Kyuubi's chakra? You thought that putting him into an uncontrollable life and death situation would cause him to miraculously pull out even an iota of the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"…"

"I trusted you Jiraiya, I trusted you when you gave me your word. That you would use this one month interval to train Naruto up to become a fine shinobi just like his father was… instead you betrayed my trust. You betrayed Naruto's trust… even worse, you betrayed Minato's trust in you that you would look after his son! NARUTO IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!"

"…"

So potent was the Killing Intent being emitted from the enraged Sandaime that even his secretary outside the office had fainted, foaming at the mouth, from the pressure being exerted. The Ansatsu Senjutsu Tokushu Butai (ANBU) members that made up his personal guard were forced to drop the A-ranked Genjutsu that kept them hidden within the shadows, bracing themselves against the walls as they struggled to catch their breath.

However Jiraiya was forced to keep his silence due to a completely different reason, the reason being the wrinkle-filled hand that was clamped down around his throat like an unbreakable vice. The Sandaime Hokage had his arm held out before him, pinning the white-haired Toad Sennin to the wall of his office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was by no means large or imposing, in fact he had always been on the rather small and lean side. Both of his male students had been taller than him with Jiraiya being the largest as he held both the height and shoulder width. However for all the difference in size, Jiraiya felt that he might as well have been the size of an ant as he gazed into the smouldering rage that burned within his teachers' gaze.

"Not only have you killed a shinobi of our village, the child of a Hokage, but also the Jinchuuriki of our village! Do you know what kind of repercussions would befall us should any of the other villages catch wind of this!?" Hiruzen growled as he spun around and flung his student against the door of his office, breaking it into pieces and sending Jiraiya into the hallway. "You're lucky you're more valuable to the village alive than dead… or I would have killed you where you were standing. You are to keep your silence regarding this issue. Now get out of my sight before I do something I regret."

Jiraiya scrambled to his feet, hand massaging his throat, and performed a deep bow before disappearing in a gust of wind. The ANBU all heaved a hidden sigh of relief as the pressure slowly let up, allowing them to catch their breath and reapply their Genjutsu.

"None of you are to say a single word of what happened in here, SS-ranked secret. If I find out that even an iota of information was released about this, I will hunt down and execute each one of you personally."

"Hai Hokage-sama." All of them acknowledged with a bead of cold sweat forming on their necks at the threat.

"Good, now one of you please help poor Sakazuki-san outside before she chokes on her own saliva."

One of the ANBU snapped off a salute before walking out the office to assist the secretary, the remainder stepped back into the shadows of their illusion. The elderly Hokage sighed tiredly as he collapsed back into his seat, burying his face in his hands. Saving himself the humiliation of allowing his subordinates to see the tears that flowed down his cheeks, tears of grief and sorrow at the apparent death of his surrogate grandson.

* * *

><p><em>One Month Later<em>

_Bottom of Endless Chasm_

_0900hrs_

The sound of two muffled impacts broke the concentration of the blond-haired youth sitting cross-legged upon the unforgiving stone ground. Eyes fluttering open from the meditative state he was in, the origin of the noise was revealed to be two completely identical copies of himself that were each holding onto different objects.

Raising himself up from his sitting position, he accepted the objects in hand before he mentally dismissed the two Kage Bunshin as their purpose had been accomplished. Opening the first bag revealed a stack of neatly folded clothes that he had his clone purchase to replace the destroyed orange jumpsuit that clung to his frame. Quickly stripping himself free of his old jumpsuit, he donned the clothes that he had purchased at the advice of someone else.

Once fully outfitted in his new clothes, he turned his attention to the other bandaged item that he had placed onto the ground. Carefully unwrapping the cloth that bound it, revealing a midnight-black sheath decorated with golden kanji markings along it. Placing his hand upon the handle, he grasped it tightly and unsheathed the blade. A well-crafted silver blade greeted him, a simple kodachi that he had his clone buy from a shinobi weapon store. Satisfied with the craftsmanship, he slid the blade back into its housing before tying it to his waist.

'**Seems like someone is ready to show his presence to the world once more.' **

The voice was not the same one that had tutored him in the ways of the Force, instead this one held a deeper tone and always ended with a growling sound. This was the voice of the Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-Tailed Demon Fox) that resided in the seal that was painted on his stomach. The five months within his mind had been productive, one of the end results was him forming a much more amicable relationship with his tenant.

'Time to show the world that Uzumaki Naruto is back, better than ever.'

Closing his eyes in preparation, he called out to the Force and felt it respond to his wishes. The energy of the world flowed through him and into his legs as he crouched close to the ground, tensing his leg muscles as a small gust started kicking up around his form despite a complete lack of wind at the bottom of the chasm. Eyes snapping wide open, he leapt upwards whilst releasing the built up energy within himself.

The end result brought a large ear-splitting grin to his face as he felt himself rocketing upwards through the chasm, wind blowing past him as he felt himself ascend higher and higher. Sunlight soon invaded his vision as he blasted out of the crack in the earth, performing a perfect mid-air somersault and landing on his feet.

Looking around as his eyes readjusted to the sunlight, he noted that he had ironically landed in the exact same location that he had been before he was kicked into the chasm. Brushing some imaginary dust of his clothes, he looked up into the sky to determine the time of the day causing his eyes to widen in alarm.

"Kuso! I hope I'm not late for the finals!"

_Konohagakure Stadium_

_0900hrs_

The day of the Chunnin Examination Finals had finally arrived, streams of excited villagers and visitors filtered into the stands at a steady pace. Mummers and whispers of excitement filled the air, numerous people discussing about the final line-up of competitors and for whom they had placed their bets on. A special portion of the stands had been cordoned off for competitors as well as their teammates, a few of them had already begin to settle down there.

"Forehead, where the hell are your teammates?"

"Shut it Ino-Bunta (Pig), I'm sure that Kakashi-sensei is at fault for making Sasuke-kun late, he is always doing things like this!" Haruno Sakura shouted out as she shook a fist angrily at an imaginary image of her perpetually late teacher.

"What about Naruto, he isn't down there as well." Ino pointed out as she gestured to the field below.

True enough, gathered on the field that consisted off the main arena of the stadium were the final competitors in the Chunnin Examinations bar a few. Currently gathered on the field were the figures of Hyuuga Neji, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, Sabaku no Gaara, Sabaku no Temari and Sabaku no Kankuro. Which meant that three competitors were missing, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Kinuta Dosu.

"Now that you mentioned it, that's pretty strange. Naruto has never been one to be late for anything…" Sakura admitted as she rubbed her chin in thought. "Actually, I haven't heard anything from or about him for the entire month. I at least catch a glimpse of Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke-kun around town whenever they break from training. It's like he just vanished."

"I'm sure he just found a secret location to train in so that nobody will bother him or spy on him." Came the brash voice of Inuzuka Kiba as he plopped himself down into the seat behind the two gossiping girls.

"Spy on Naruto?" Both of them echoed with equally incredulous expressions on their faces, clearly disbelieving of what the Inuzuka heir had just suggested.

"Hey it could happen! He did defeat me after all!"

"He farted at you…" Ino deadpanned causing a cloud of depression to form around the suddenly sulking boy.

"Don't remind me, I had to endure a week of teasing from both my Kaa-san and Nee-san…"

"Yosh! What youthful conversation were you partaking in my fellow youthful comrades?" A sudden voice cut in, prompting them to look for the source despite them only knowing two particular people who spoke in that manner.

Limping down the stairs with the help of a pair of crutches as well as his female teammates, who shot them an apologetic look, was the form of one Rock Lee. His arm and leg still in casts, a reminder of the ruthlessness of the sand-wielding Suna Genin. Helping him down into one of the front row seats, Tenten turned her curious gaze upon the rest of the Genin in hopes of someone filling them in.

"They were discussing… about the missing… competitors… Two of them… being Naruto… and Sasuke…" Akimichi Chouji kindly explained, though his words were punctuated by the crunching of potato chips that he was stuffing himself with.

"Naruto-kun will surely appear! He is a fellow genius of hard-work and had sworn an oath to defeat Neji-kun during the preliminaries! His youthfulness would not allow him to break such a promise! Yosh!" Lee cried out with vigour, clearly excited to see his genius teammate go up against a fellow dead-last.

"Despite the eccentric way he said it, Lee is right. From what I've heard and seen of Naruto-san, it doesn't seem like he would be one to brake such a solemn promise." Tenten said, adding on to what the bowl-cut Genin had mentioned.

"A-ano, I agree with Lee-san and Tenten-san… N-Naruto-kun wouldn't break any p-promise he makes…" Hyuuga Hinata stated in her usual soft-spoken tone, fingers pressed together in a shy gesture.

"Yeah I agree, Naruto may be loud, annoying and dumb but he would never break a promise that he made. Working with him for all these months has taught me that much about him at least." Sakura said with a smile, convincing herself not to worry about her teammates.

_Kage Booth_

_0900hrs_

"Has there been any sign of either Uchiha Sasuke or Uzumaki Naruto?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked the Jounin beside him, keeping up appearances that the blond Jinchuuriki was missing instead of the actual truth.

"Unfortunately we have had no luck in locating either boys or Kakashi-san. Not to worry Hokage-sama, we have ANBU teams searching for any traces of them."

"I understand…"

Any further words were interrupted by the arrival of several men within the booth, the one in the lead wearing the customary robes of a Kage with two Suna Jounin on either side of him.

"Well if it isn't Kazekage-dono, I trust that the trip here has been of no issue for you?" Hiruzen started the conversation with some friendly banter.

"Not at all. In fact I am rather glad the Chunnin Exams are held here this time. I fear that while you're still young, your body might not have been able to handle the strain of travelling to a different country. Maybe it's time for you to decide on a Godaime (Fifth)?" The Yondaime Kazekage shot back, his tone teasing causing a chuckle to emerge from the elderly Kage.

"Hahaha please don't treat me like an old man, I still have at least another good five years inside this body of mine. Well now, I think it's about time we begin, the audience seems to be getting antsy…" Pushing himself up from his seat, the Sandaime stepped forward to address the crowd.

"I would like to thank everyone for coming to attend Konohagakure Chunnin Selection Examinations! Of all the participants that had gathered here on the first day, their numbers have been whittled down through various tests of intellect, endurance and skill! Now only eight remain, this eight will compete in a tournament style bracket system until only a single winner emerges! We will now start the main tournament matches, please stay and watch till the very end!"

"If there are eight finalists, it appears that two are missing…" The Kazekage commented offhandedly, though it was still heard by the Sandaime.

'When Naruto does not show up, everyone will just assume he quit due to his nerves or for some other reason. I can't let such sensitive information such as our village's Jinchuuriki having died escape.' Hiruzen thought to himself, his eyes betraying the sad thought of not being able to see his surrogate grandson perform in the finals.

* * *

><p>Shiranui Genma twirled the senbon in his mouth around as he fished inside of his flak jacket before pulling out a piece of paper, unfurling it he presented it to the awaiting Genin. Expressions of surprise flared across several of their faces.<p>

"That's right. There have been some minor changes to the tournament layout due to the Sound Genin forfeiting due to personal reasons, please check again to see who you will be fighting." Genma explained.

"Hey I have a question." Shikamaru lazily raised a hand to draw the proctor's attention. "What happens to those that don't make it on time for their match?"

"That's simple, if they are not here by the time of their match… they are disqualified."

"Thanks…" Shikamaru replied but was inwardly processing a hundred different thoughts. 'Where the hell are Naruto and Sasuke? They are the last two I expect to not show up for this event… troublesome…'

"Alright you all, if there are no further questions… welcome to the final round of the Chunnin Exams. The arena may be different but the same rules from the preliminaries applies here as well, there are none. The winner is determined by death, knockout or if the opponent acknowledges defeat. However if I determine that the fight is over, I will step in and stop it. Understand?" Genma stated seriously as he locked gazes with each of the participants, frowning when he passed over the youngest son of the Kazekage. 'This one will be a problem…'

Amplifying his voice with chakra, his next instructions echoed clearly throughout the stadium.

"Now the first match will be between Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto! All other participants are to vacate the arena and proceed to the waiting area established for you in the stands!" Waiting until only the male Hyuuga remained on the field, he addressed the crowd again. "Seeing as Uzumaki Naruto is not here, a standard allocated waiting time of five minutes is allowed for the participant to arrive. If said participant fails to arrive within the stipulated timing, he will be immediately disqualified!"

"Tsk, looks like fate has declared me to be the victor. At least he was smart enough to back down rather than humiliate himself by turning up." Neji smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch." Genma retorted, deciding that he did not like the kid's attitude, causing the boy to scoff.

"Once fate has decreed your lot in life, nothing can change that…"

_Within the Stands_

"Hey Shika, did Naruto tell you where he was?" Chouji asked in curiosity, drawing the attention of the other gathered Genin.

"Tsk troublesome, no he did not. I haven't seen him at all during this month as well…" Shikamaru replied, still bothered by the non-attendance of his fellow ex-classmates.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he will be here." Sakura stated with resolution, confidence shining in her eyes.

"Forehead…" Ino did not expect such confidence from her pink-haired rival, especially towards the blond dead-last of the academy.

"Naruto… he has always been there to pull us through when it mattered. During the Wave mission at the bridge and in the Forest of Death, it was always him and Sasuke-kun that got us through… so I've decided to put my faith in my teammate that he will once again pull through even when the odds are counting him out."

"Yosh! Sakura-chan is right! Naruto-kun will surely surprise us all once again with the power of his youth!" Lee shouted energetically, waving his crutches in the air.

"Oi! Lee calm down, you'll aggravate your injuries again!" Tenten scolded the Taijutsu specialist causing him to hang his head in apology.

"Heh, so what if your little buddy doesn't turn up? From what I've seen in the prelims, he is as good as dead if he steps foot on that field." Kankuro mocked from his position beside his siblings.

"What did you say make-up boy?!" Kiba growled as he made to get up from his seat, frowning when he was restrained by Hinata.

"It's WARPAINT!" Kankuro shouted back with a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Not that I want to be the bad guy but… Neji is the rookie of the previous batch of Genin. What are Naruto's chances against a guy like him?" Chouji asked with a small frown.

"Normally I'd say that Neji would straight up trash him… but we haven't heard from the troublesome blond for the entire duration of the month. To me, it means that he must have been training so rigorously that he did not even have time to walk about the village. So it could go either way…" Shikamaru said with a sigh as he stared out at the field. 'Come on Naruto… where the hell are you?'

"One thing I've learnt is not to underestimate Naruto, he is stubborn as hell and cunning as a fox. Even if he can't beat Neji in a straight up fight, he will definitely find a way to give himself the advantage." Kiba grinned as he slammed a fist into an open palm. "This fight is going to be epic, I can't wait to see Naruto wipe that smirk off that arrogant asshole!"

"Naruto…" Sakura bit her lower lip in worry.

_Stadium Arena_

0910hrs

"Uzumaki Naruto has thirty more seconds to turn up or he will be disqualified from this tournament!" Genma announced, resulting in whispers and grunts of dissatisfaction from the audience.

Genma nervously chewed on the senbon in his mouth, knowing that it was not a good start to the tournament if the participant of the first match did not even turn up. Eyes dropping down to the stopwatch in his hand, he made a sound of annoyance when he noticed that only ten seconds remained.

"It seems I was right after all…" Neji stated as he turned around and started walking back to the waiting area.

"Tsk… Uzumaki Naruto-!" Genma paused when he noticed a shadow falling from the sky, squinting through the glare of the sun he managed to make out a humanoid shape.

_Boom!_

A cloud of sand was kicked up when the figure impacted the arena floor, obscuring the vision of everyone trying to determine the identity of the person within the cloud of dust.

"Somebody call my name?"

The dust cleared to reveal spiky sandy-blond locks that fell over a pair of cerulean-blue eyes, whisker-like marks decorated each cheek that was spread in a cocky grin. Despite looking thinner than before, everyone could immediately recognise him even though his fashion sense had changed dramatically.

No longer was he wearing the orange eyesore of a jumpsuit, instead in its place was something more practical yet uncommon. Naruto was decked out in robe-like garments similar to the Hyuuga household, except his version was more formfitting and did not hang loosely about his body. They were also grey in colour, two different tones to be precise. And clearly displayed to everyone was the blade attached to his left hip.

_Kage Booth_

Sarutobi Hiruzen was initially hit by an overwhelming sense of disbelief, then he was forced to smother his urge to jump down into the arena and crush the boy in a hug, there would be time for that later. Instead he reigned in his emotions and refused to allow the tears of happiness to fall down his face, he could not allow such displays in front of his counterpart after all.

Another individual above the Kage Booth had no such restraint, choosing to allow the tears of joy and relief flow as he gazed at the son of his student standing in the arena. Jiraiya wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, not wanting the tears to prevent him from watching the match. Wondering just what his godson had been doing during his so called period of 'death' and how much he had improved, which was clear from the way he had just arrived and how he held himself.

_Competitor Booth_

"Is that… Naruto?" Ino asked in disbelief, rubbing her eyes before checking again.

"It is! Just thinner and not wearing that horrible monstrosity!" Sakura could not help but cheer in relief, both for his timely appearance and his new wardrobe.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but… he actually looks good!" Ino exclaimed in surprise.

"Maybe he decided to cut back on the ramen?" Kiba joked as he leaned forward in his seat, excitement dancing across his features.

"Yosh! Go Naruto-kun! Go Neji-kun!" Lee shouted from his spot but refrained from making exaggerated actions under the watchful gaze of his teammate.

_Arena_

"Cutting it a little close kid." Genma drawled as he looked at his stopwatch, a second left on the timer.

"There were some… unforeseen circumstances. I'm here now though, can we start the match?" Naruto asked as he cracked his neck in preparation.

"You should have just stayed away, at least you would have saved yourself the humiliation of losing in front of everybody." Neji stated calmly, an indifferent expression on his face.

"I could say the same to you. However I believe actions speak louder than words, so are you going to stand there flapping your gums all day or are we going to fight?"

His taunt seemed to work as a look of annoyance briefly flittered across the face of the Hyuuga prodigy before it was schooled back into his usual expression, the Doujutsu-wielding Genin settling into his clan's Taijutsu stance. Seeing that both participants were ready for battle, Genma leapt backwards to the arena wall as he shouted out.

"Let the first fight, begin!"

Both participants remained stationary, both of them clearly studying their opponent and waiting for them to make a move. Naruto grinned as he placed a hand on the handle of his kodachi, veins bulged around Neji's eyes as he activated his Byakugan (White-Eye).

"Don't worry, I'm not going to use this blade. In fact, I'm not going to use anything other than Taijutsu to beat you down into the ground." Naruto announced as he smacked a fist into his palm.

"Humph, I see that whatever training you had this month has made you arrogant Uzumaki. However challenging a Hyuuga to a Taijutsu only match is a death-wish, not even Lee has been able to defeat me in straight up Taijutsu!"

"Watch carefully Hanabi, there is no Hyuuga whose blood is thicker than Neji. He is truly a prodigy of the Jūken style of fighting." Hyuuga Hiashi explained to his younger daughter, though inwardly he was sighing. 'A once in a lifetime prodigy and he was born to the branch family, Hizashi… there is truly something wrong with our clan…'

"Hai Otou-san." Hyuuga Hanabi was the younger sister of Hinata by an age gap of two years, she was more proficient than her sister in the Hyuuga martial arts despite the difference in age. 'That boy… he just claimed that he would go up against Neji-niisan in Taijutsu only… interesting.'

"Heh the kid is crazy, declaring that he will win using Taijutsu only against a Hyuuga! I'm not even a Konoha shinobi and I know that is straight up suicide!" Kankuro laughed out loud.

"As much as I don't want to admit it but he is right. What the hell is Naruto thinking?!" Kiba exclaimed as he stood up from his seat, irritation evident on his face. "Naruto you better beat him up good or you'll regret it!"

"Naruto-kun… your flames of youth burn brightly!" Lee cheered even louder at the prospect at an all Taijutsu match.

"N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata stuttered out in worry, her cousin was hailed as a Hyuuga prodigy after all.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered as he slumped forward, though his eyes were keenly fixed onto the battlefield.

"Go Naruto! Kick his ass!" Sakura pumped her fist in the air as she shouted.

Naruto paused when he heard the shouts, surprise evident on his face as he listened to all the various cheering and praise. Shrugging them off for the moment, he heard the sound of feet hitting the sandy ground and turned to engage his approaching opponent.

"Don't underestimate the Jūken (Gentle-Fist) of the Hyuuga clan!" Neji shouted as he thrust his arm forward, fingertips alight with the blue glow associated with chakra usage.

Naruto exhaled deeply as he surrendered himself to the Force, allowing the all-knowing energy to flow through his limbs and direct his movements. As the Force surged through his body, he realised that he could predict where his opponent was going to strike based on the subtle twitching of muscles as well as displacement of the air. Taking a small step to the right, he twisted his torso slightly just enough for the fingers of his opponent to pass in front of him.

However that did not deter his opponent in the slightest, instead the white-eyed boy seemed to pick up the pace of his attacks. Finger thrusts, palm strikes, back-hand slaps were all mixed into the onslaught of attacks that were flying at him. And each and every single one of them was perfectly evaded or diverted with simple Taijutsu of his own, though he was still being forced backwards by the intensity of the attacks.

A sudden premonition through the Force notified him of a suspicious lull in his opponent's attack pattern, which was proven true when Neji took a small hop backwards before rushing in with a double open-palm thrust. The attack was clearly meant to catch him off guard due to the original pattern of light attacks, aiming to deliver a heavy blow to break through his guard. However instead of backpedalling or raising his arms in an attempt to guard, both of which the Hyuuga prodigy had factored in, Naruto chose to dash forward into his guard.

With a quick upwards slap with both arms, Naruto diverted the attacks of his opponent before drawing his arms back and unleashing a devastating double open-palm thrust of his own. The attack connected with the chest of his opponent, effectively knocking the breath out of him and pushing him back several metres. Here the blond-haired shinobi stood upright again, a grin on his face whilst rolling his neck and shoulders.

"Come now Neji-chan, that can't be everything you got?"

_In the Stands_

Eyes were bulging and jaws were dropped when the audience witnessed something unexpected, the Uzumaki kid was dominating the Hyuuga prodigy at pure Taijutsu combat! A certain group of Jounin were among the people who were shocked, Sarutobi Asuma even left his jaw hanging for so long that his cigarette fell out.

"That… that's Uzumaki Naruto? Kakashi's brat? The prankster and dead-last of the academy?" Asuma voiced aloud in disbelief.

"I… I don't believe it… his dominating the match! He was matching the Hyuuga blow for blow in a pure Taijutsu fight!" Yuuhi Kurenai gaped at the scene that was still replaying inside her head.

"Hehehe I knew he was something special when I chose to drink his blood outside the Forest of Death! Wooo! Go Naru-chan! Kick that pompous asshole's ass!" Mitarashi Anko was cackling madly as she cheered causing sweat-drops to form on many of her fellow colleagues faces.

"For him to have improved this much over the course of one month…" Maito Gai whispered with narrowed eyes before he suddenly punched his fist into the sky and shouted aloud. "Kakashi my hip rival! Your flames of youth burn brightly for imparting such skills in Taijutsu to young Naruto-kun! Yosh!"

"Somehow… I don't think Kakashi was the one that taught him during the one month interval." Kurenai said, a small frown working its way onto her face.

"Yeah, that perverted scarecrow has never been that proficient at Taijutsu. Not to mention he is as lazy as a Nara! No way could he have brought Naru-chan up to this level of Taijutsu!" Anko added on.

"No, I don't think Kurenai was referring to his teaching skills. What she meant was that the few times we saw Kakashi, he would always be with Uchiha Sasuke. We inferred that he was probably teaching the last Uchiha to properly use his Sharingan and tips on how to fight that Suna Genin with the gourd." Asuma said with a frown as well.

That was certainly something for the gathered Jounin to think about.

"Wooo! Go Naruto! Knock some sense into that asshole!" Kiba shouted out as he slammed his fists onto the railing, turning around he pointed a finger at the surprised Kankuro. "You are so going to get your ass handed to you by him! That is if you even get past my man Shino here!"

"That is illogical, his rate of success is smaller than the size of my Kikaichu…" Shino stated in his calm tone.

Kankuro growled and reached for the bandaged puppet on his back but a strong grip on his arm by his sister, along with a disapproving shake of the head, was enough to stay his actions. Turning his attention back to the field, he ground his teeth and bared with the mocking.

"If you aren't going to come to me, I guess I'll just have to go over to-"

His statement was cut short as he disappeared in a blur of speed, a small cloud of sand rising from the point that he had kicked off.

"-you!"

Neji barely had time to raise his arms in a cross-guard before a haymaker crashed into his guard, the impact forcing him back several steps. He could feel his bones groaning in protest from the hit, something that had only ever happened when he was sparring with Gai before.

'Just how strong are his blows?'

He was not given any more time to think as his Byakugan spotted his blond-haired opponent rushing in from his left flank, he twisted his body around and flung out a jab. Naruto foresaw the attack and easily batted it away before throwing a hook at the side of his opponents' head, which was dodged at the last second by veering his head backwards. A victorious grin broke out across the face of the blond-haired shinobi as he unclenched his fist and grabbed a fistful of his opponents' shirt.

"Gotcha you elusive bastard!"

'Kuso! No choice, I have to reveal my trump card…' Neji cursed as he started to pivot about his right foot, pushing out chakra from all the tenketsu located around his body.

"Kaiten (Heavenly Spin)!"

Naruto was forced to let go in surprise when a dome of rotating chakra expanded around his opponent, the force pushing away everything in an outwards direction. As the Hyuuga prodigy spun to a stop, there were obvious friction markings on the ground around him that depicted just how strong the rotational forces were.

"Otou-san that was?" Hanabi asked as she glanced at her father, whom had an expression of surprise on his face.

"Yes… the Kaiten. A technique from the Hyuuga Main Branch family that is only passed on to the heirs… for him to have mastered it on his own…" Hiashi could not help as a small smile tugged at his lips. 'Brother, you have truly left your legacy behind…'

"Don't blink or you'll miss it because it is already over for you… you are within the field of my divination." Neji spoke out loud as he slid into a low stance, one hand near his outstretched foot and the other hand held out directly behind him.

"Two palms!"

Neji blurred forward in an impressive display of speed as he performed two consecutive jabs towards his blond-haired target, only to blink in shock when he slipped around them. Focusing on his attack once again, another two consecutive jabs were made followed by another four consecutive jabs.

"Four palms!"

The blond slipped through the attacks again.

"Eight palms!"

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he avoided two before being forced to use his hands to divert the path of the remaining two jabs.

"Sixteen palms!"

Neji gritted his teeth in annoyance and disbelief that his ace-in-the-hole move was having no effect against the dead-last of the academy, he pumped more chakra into his limbs in an effort to increase his speed.

"Thirty-Two palms!"

The intensity of the next sixteen jabs had Naruto on his toes as his sense were forced into overdrive to keep up with the speed at which the jabs were being thrown at him. A small side-step followed by a backhand, a twist of the body followed by an open palm to divert another jab, a tilt of the head followed by a nudge of an elbow. To the people viewing the fight, it looked more like a well-choreographed dance than an actual fight.

"Sixty-Four Palms!"

The final onslaught of thirty-two jabs were delivered at such a blistering pace that it put the previous sixteen to shame, they came at nearly twice the speed and intensity. Sweat started dripping down the neck of the blond Uzumaki when he realised that his body was not conditioned enough to keep up with the pace, even if his senses were honed enough to keep track of the attacks. Several attacks were breaking through his guard, closing the tenketsu points that were hit and numbing the affected area in an instant. Cerulean-blue eyes widened slightly when a particularly powerful thrust slammed into his left shoulder, knocking him off balance just as his opponent reared back to deliver the final blow.

"Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)!"

The final attack was an open-palm arm thrust that was driven straight at the sternum in a decisive blow to end the match, a strong gust of wind blew out from between the two Genin due to the strength behind the attack. Neji was left panting slightly from the effort that he exerted during his technique, a smile slowly stretched across his face before several fake coughs interrupted him.

"Man that was pretty intense!"

His carefully crafted mask of cold indifference shattered when he noticed that his final attack had been stopped by his opponent, the blond having used both hands to clamp down on his forearm to prevent any further movement. His palm a mere inch away from the grey-robe covered chest of his target.

* * *

><p>"Impossible! He just managed to counter one of the strongest techniques of the Hyuuga Taijutsu style!" Hiashi gaped as he rose from his seat in disbelief.<p>

'To provoke such a reaction from my usually emotionless father... you intrigue me Uzumaki Naruto.' Hanabi thought to herself, a small smile on her face.

* * *

><p>"That was a pretty close call, just means I have to get my body back into shape again!" Naruto exhaled in relief before he lifted his head and stared straight into the Byakugan of his opponent, a smirk forming upon his face. "Over for me you said? Well looks like I'm still standing, so I guess it's my turn now!"<p>

Tugging the captured arm forward, he tucked it under his left armpit and trapped it there against his ribs in a tight grip. In an attempt to retaliate, Neji aimed a jab with his remaining hand only to have it caught in a grip by the wrist. Not wasting any time, the blond slammed a Force-enhanced knee into the opponent's unprotected stomach.

"Hrk!" Neji grimaced as he coughed out a wad of blood from the blow.

Without any mercy, the unforgiving Force-driven knee slammed home twice again with each time holding significantly more force, Releasing the gasping Genin from his make-shift hold, Naruto delivered a flurry of hooks, jabs and haymakers that found purchase on every inch of the Hyuuga Genin's face before ending with a double rabbit punch to the chest. Neji grunted in pain as his body was blasted backwards, though he managed to stay upright through sheer force of willpower.

Breaking into a run from his stationary position, Naruto accelerated towards his opponent only to stomp his right foot into the ground at the last instance and pivot about it. Transferring the entirety of his built-up momentum into a single devastating roundhouse kick that connected squarely against his opponent in the chest, the force behind the kick blasting Neji straight across the field and into the wall of the arena.

Dust from the impact slowly drifted away to reveal the prone and unmoving form of one Hyuuga Neji, blood leaking from the corners of his mouth.

"Winner, Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha!" Genma announced as he lifted the hand of said Genin skyward, subtly whispering to him. "Good fight kid, glad to see that brat get knocked down a peg or two… maybe ten from that beating you gave him."

"I aim to please!" Naruto responder with a mischievous tone, a genuine smile upon his face as he basked in the cheers of the crowd following the aftermath of his victory.

Turning around to make his way back to the competitor waiting area, he clenched his fists as translucent swirls of Force energy gathered around them.

**"Through death may we find purpose, through purpose may we find life and through life may we find the Force."**

* * *

><p><strong>Wow that took more out of me than I expected it too! So after much delay, private messages, reviews, complaints and tons of other things! I bring to you the new revamped story for Naruto Force Unleashed! Hope you will enjoy it as much as the original, which I will be leaving up as a reminder of the difference in my writing skills!<strong>

**As for the pairing of this story, you can tell it is going to be different already as no similarities remain between this story and the original Force Unleashed. Currently I am heavily leaning towards a Hanabi route, seeing as I have recently discovered a new found addiction to Naruto x Hanabi stories.**

**Leave your thoughts on the matter?**

**Ja ne!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Star Wars, I however do own the idea for this crossover!**

**Not going to bother you with an overly long authors' note, really appreciate the responses I've gotten from all you lovely people out there! I will dedicate this portion to answering a few of the questions that I've seen in the reviews that I felt needs some clearing up.**

**Hanabi's age: A lot of people have responded that Hanabi is much younger than Naruto, being Six years apart in terms of age. However I would like to point out that if you reread Chapter 1 properly, you would see that I have already stated that Hanabi is 2 years younger instead of the canon 6 years. Hope this clears out the age misunderstanding.**

**God-ShadowEx100: Okay really? I have not even posted anything beyond the first chapter and you've already formulated such a biased opinion? Though I will say that it does not matter to me if you do not continue reading, your loss it will be, not mine.**

**Naruto's attitude: Regarding the above-mentioned as well as a few others, I don't want to spoil the ideas I have in mind but I will drop a hint. Look underneath the underneath, things may not always be what they seem. (E.g. Tobi)**

**Harem Route: This is a little iffy right now, I am currently in the midst of wondering if there is a more creative alternative to always reverting to either the CRA (Clan Restoration Act) route or Demonic Overlord should have a harem route. This is a work in progress, will update if I decide to go this way.**

**The Darkness Kitsune: Canon-Loving douchebag? Excuse me? If you even bothered reading any of my other works, you will know that I despise Canon to a large extent and that I think Kishimoto is a retard for fucking up such a promising series. Weak-ass Naruto? You do know that he has been meditating for a month inside a deep trench, he isn't exactly in perfect condition.**

**I think any remaining questions will be answered if you keep reading future chapters!**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 1: Conclusion &amp; Invasion<span>

The stands of the stadium were filled with the incessant buzz of excited chatter, this were of course coming from the foreign travellers that came to witness the Chunnin Examination Finals.

"Did you see that?! That kid just defeated a Hyuuga in pure hand-to-hand combat alone!"

"I know! That was an amazing fight!"

"Hahaha! Even if I lost money in that bet, that fight was worth every single Ryo I lost!"

"Uzumaki Naruto… that is definitely a name I'll remember!"

"Kyaaaa! Naruto-kun!"

However in comparison to the praises heaped upon him by the foreigners, the residents of Konohagakure no Sato were of a different state of mind. The civilians were restless and had worried looks upon their faces, some of them even had an enraged expression that probably had something to do with their bets.

"How did the demon brat get so strong?"

"He just beat up the Hyuuga prodigy, what kind of demonic powers did he use?"

"He must have cheated somehow, I can't believe this!"

"That stupid brat! How dare he cost me two months of my wages!"

"Kyaaaa! Naruto-kun!"

Though seemingly, fan-girls apparently are the same whether local or foreign.

Strangely enough, the object of their discussion was nowhere to be seen after the end of his match was announced and he had disappeared into the darkness of the entrance corridor. The audience members were not the only ones to notice the lack of his presence as soon enough the rest of the Genin were looking around in confusion.

"Did anybody notice that Naruto has not come up the stairs yet?" Ino asked, the question causing everyone to glance at the staircase that led downwards towards the arena floor.

"Now that you mentioned it… it has been a few minutes since the match ended. Shouldn't he be up here already?" Tenten pointed out.

"That's strange, I would expect him to be up here gloating about his victory… troublesome blond."

"Is there something wrong with being blonde Shikamaru?"

"…troublesome." The seemingly permanently lethargic boy commented upon seeing his female teammates' enraged expression.

"Hey no need to worry guys, he probably just had to go take a leak or something. You know, nature calls when it calls and all that!" Kiba said before chuckling at his own joke, though the majority seemed to agree with this line of reasoning.

"Yosh! Kiba-kun is right! Naruto-kun is obviously bursting with youthfulness after that fight, he has obviously gone to the toilet to relieve himself of some of that youthfulness!" Lee shouted out in agreement, not realising the unintended innuendo behind his words.

"Oh I wouldn't mind helping him 'relieve some of that youthfulness' myself hehehe…" Ino whispered with a small flush across her cheeks, an unconscious shiver ran up her spine from the subtle glare thrown her way by the timid Hyuuga heiress.

While the rest of the Konoha Genin were chatting animatedly about the recent match, Sakura glanced worriedly at the stairs before looking at the clock situated on a nearby wall.

'Naruto has changed a lot over the past month… is he even the same person?' She thought to herself before shaking it off with a small laugh. "What am I thinking, he will always be the same Baka. Instead I should be more worried about Sasuke-kun, he is going to be late for his match… Grrr I bet this is Kakashi-sensei's fault! His tardiness is rubbing off on my teammates!"

_Konoha Stadium, Infirmary_

Pain. That was the first feeling that Hyuuga Neji was reacquainted with upon regaining his consciousness, a dull aching pain that covered the entirety of his torso and a majority of his face. The second thing he noticed was the amount of white that greeted his vision, almost everything within range was coloured the same stark white that could only be associated with a medical treatment area.

"I see you have regained consciousness Hyuuga-san." A rough voice greeted him.

Turning his head to the side, mentally suppressing the flare of pain the accompanied the movement, he spotted a medic-nin approaching his bedside.

"W-what happened?" He gasped out, even talking hurt.

"After Uzumaki-san decimated you? The emergency response team was dispatched and carried your body back here for treatment, we're in the Infirmary wing of the stadium."

"I lost huh…" Neji whispered, more to himself than the medic.

"Well you seem to be in much better shape than when you arrived, we managed to heal the majority of the damage but your body really took a beating so I would advise to hold off on any heavy training for at least a week." The medic stated in his gruff voice, deactivating the diagnosis jutsu that he had used to check his patient.

"I see…"

"Well I'll get going now, seeing as you have a visitor waiting to speak with you… he has been waiting there ever since we brought you in."

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, the pale-eyed boy tilted his head again and surprise fluttered over his features when he noticed the familiar blond mop of hair as well as whisker-like marks.

"Have you come to gloat about your victory Uzumaki?" He sighed in resignation.

"No."

"What?"

"I said no, is that so hard to understand?"

"If not then why are you here?"

Silence descended upon the pair for a good duration after the question was asked, it was neither a tense silence nor was it a comfortable one.

"You're not a bad person Neji… that much I can tell." Naruto started off, surprising the bed-ridden Genin. "Life dealt you a shitty hand, you were born into the branch family and your father lost his life in exchange for his brother in the main family."

A brief pause occurred as the blond-haired youth seemed to ponder his next words.

"What you fail to understand is that you are not controlled by these circumstances, take me for example. I was born an orphan, I had never felt the love of a family and had nobody to raise me. I lived off the streets and was shunned by a majority of the population, not to mention the dead-last of the Shinobi Academy." Naruto raised his arms out wide and smirked. "Look where I stand now, I trained hard… harder than anybody I know to get to where I am. I am living proof that whatever hand that was dealt to you by fate can be changed."

"…" Neji remained silent as he processed the words that hammered into his psyche.

"Take a look at yourself as well, you are hailed as a prodigy of the Hyuuga clan despite being born into the branch family. You trained hard to surpass the limitations that they placed on you, even going so far as to surpass the heir of your clan. What is that if not defying fate?" Seeing that the Hyuuga prodigy was lost in his own thoughts and sensing the presence of another approaching, he turned around and started walking away.

"Don't let fate control you, you are the master of your own destiny… looks like there is someone else here to visit you."

As if on cue, Hyuuga Hiashi stepped out from the shadows of the corridor that lead into the infirmary.

"Uzumaki Naruto… I have to say that your performance was something I definitely did not expect." Hiashi stated, keeping his tone polite and neutral.

"Hyuuga-san, I excel at the unexpected. Now I think you have someone far more important to talk to than me, I'll just be getting out of your hair." Naruto replied flippantly as he continued strolling past the Hyuuga clan head and down the corridor, where he felt another presence.

Turning the next bend, he spotted a girl that was about a year or two younger than him. She had long black hair that fell down to her mid-back as well as framed her face, he pegged her as a Hyuuga the moment she turned to face him and revealed her pale, pupil-less eyes. Her attire consisted of a simple black sleeveless training Gi, under which she wore a mesh shirt.

"Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yes, though I can't say I know who you are?"

"Apologies, I am Hyuuga Hanabi. Younger sister of Hinata-sama." Hanabi stated as she performed a formal bow.

"Ah I see! Though there is no need to be so formal with me, it's not as if I'm royalty or anything." Naruto said casually, though he was subtly probing for her intentions through the Force.

"Be that as it may, I respect strength and you have definitely impressed me by your performance against my cousin." Hanabi said with a small smile before a curious look overtook her features. "Though I am curious as to how you managed to guard against the Hakke Rokujūyon Shō (Eight-Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms), it is something that only the most talented and experienced of Hyuuga clan members can accomplish."

'Ah so that's her angle, she is curious about my abilities.'

"Now Hanabi-chan…" Naruto smirked when he noticed the slight twitch at the suffix. "A shinobi has to have his secrets, after all deception is the greatest weapon. Though let's just say that I have a little voice in the back of my head that tells me stuff."

"First off, it's Hanabi-san to you! Second, what are you even talking about? What voice?"

"That would be telling wouldn't it?" The blond-haired shinobi grinned as he resumed his walk back towards the stands, not before throwing one last remark over his shoulder. "See you around Hanabi-chan!"

"Grrr! That insufferable…!" Hanabi growled as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance with her face red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

_Within the stands_

"Hey where the heck is Sasuke, isn't his match next?" Naruto called out as he emerged from the stairwell.

"He hasn't arrived yet, speaking of which… where the heck did you disappear to after your match huh?!" Sakura shouted as she pointed finger at him accusingly.

Shrugging dismissively, he walked over to the railings and leaned his head on it. "Had a lot of adrenaline left after the fight, decided to take walk. That's not important though, Sasuke does know that his match is next right? He will be disqualified if he does not show up."

"Confucius once said: The wise do not approach the dangerous. A wise decision on his part perhaps?" Shino suggested.

The gathered Genin could hear the dissent starting to build within the crowd as numerous people starting shouting for the matches to continue, obviously feeling the need for more adrenaline pumping action like the first match.

"What the heck is that guy doing, is he planning to forfeit his match?" Shikamaru asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Pfft as if that will happen, that bastard is way too prideful for something like that… plus we promised that we would meet each other in the finals!" Naruto grinned viciously, already imagining the proud Uchiha on the receiving end of his new skills.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru muttered as he gazed lazily at the field.

_Kage Viewing Booth_

"Hokage-sama, it seems that the teams have been unsuccessful in locating Hatake-san and his pupil." Raido, a Jounin with a prominent scar that ran across the left side of his face, whispered discreetly into the ear of the elderly Kage.

Letting out a sigh at the thought of the famous Jounin passing on his tardiness to his student, "It seems that we have no choice but to disqualify-"

"If I may offer my input Hokage-dono." The voice of the Kazekage cut in, the man gesturing with his hand towards the viewing booth that housed the daimyos and others of noble birth. "I, along with a majority of the Lords and Nobles are here today to witness the performance of the famous Last Uchiha of Konohagakure. It would reflect badly on your village in the eyes of these people if you were to disqualify Uchiha-san before he even had the chance to showcase his prowess."

"If he can't even make it a point to be on time for a major event like this, he does not deserve the rank of Chunnin." Raido scoffed, clearly upset at the leeway the young Uchiha was receiving.

"Unfortunately the point Kazekage-dono made has validity as well, it would indeed reflect badly on the village as well as affect our standing with the Fire Daimyo if we do not put up a good showing… very well." Sarutobi Hiruzen conceded with a cough as he stood up to address the stadium. "I apologise for the inconvenience! Unfortunately, Uchiha Sasuke has failed to turn up on time for his match! However we were willing to postpone his match to the last round and to be fair to the other participants, it will impact heavily on his chances of promotion!"

"Arigatou Hokage-dono, that is more than satisfactory. It will also give me a chance to see how well my youngest fairs against Uchiha-san." The Kazekage said, tilting his head in appreciation.

"Sandaime-sama, is this really okay?" Raido asked.

"As I have mentioned, it will affect his chances of promotion. Would you kindly inform the proctor to begin the next match as soon as possible?"

"Hai Hokage-sama!"

Using a quick Shunshin (Body Flicker) to traverse from the booth to the arena floor, he whispered the instructions to the senbon-chewing proctor before vanishing again in a swirl of leaves. Genma allowed a flicker of annoyance to cross his face before sighing and addressing the gathered people.

"As Hokage-sama has stated, Uchiha Sasuke will have his match postponed! Now will the participants of the next match please proceed down to the field? Sabaku no Kankuro and Aburame Shino!"

"Shit… this match isn't even important in the long run." Kankuro muttered under his breath, low enough that only his sister could hear him. "Not to mention that I don't want to reveal all the tricks that I had recently installed inside Karasu before the plan begins…"

A silent conversation seemed to happen between the two siblings before Kankuro leaned over the railing and cleared his throat.

"Proctor, I forfeit the match!"

This statement drew many different reactions, the first and loudest was the uproar of the audience. They had already waited for quite a long duration for the Uchiha match, which had been postponed, only for the next match to be forfeited. The second was from the assembled Genin that were in the competitor booth.

"He… forfeited?" Ino asked in confusion.

"I knew it! Spouting all that nonsense just now, you're just full of hot air aren't ya?!" Kiba shouted across the booth, paying back the puppeteer for his earlier words.

"That's not very youthful…"

"I know that it is logical that he would not fare well against my Kikaichu, since they consume chakra and his puppeteer abilities rely on forming threads composed entirely of chakra. However I did not expect him to forfeit without even attempting a fight, I have heard that Suna puppeteers usually have more than a few dimensions when they fight."

"Troublesome…"

While most of his peers were either confused or jeering at the opposition, Naruto narrowed his eyes in suspicion when he felt a slight tingling sensation through the Force when the siblings were whispering. Trusting his instincts, he closed his eyes for a moment as he drew upon his power to read emotions through the Force.

"Anxiety… worry… anticipation…" Naruto mumbled to himself, opening his eyes to focus on the Suna Genin. 'They must be hiding something… something big enough that they were worried that showing off their skills would compromise it?'

Seeing the negative and suspicious glances being thrown at them, the blonde-haired Suna kunoichi made a snap decision by whipping open her battle fan and riding it down into the arena. This served to quiet down the audience a little, though the shinobi portion were still slightly suspicious about the forfeit.

"Little eager aren't ya?" Genma quipped as he fiddled with the senbon in his mouth.

"Just start the match already."

"Very well, Nara Shikamaru get your ass down here!"

"Troublesome… because of that forfeit my match has been moved forward again… maybe I should just forfeit like that guy did." Shikamaru sighed as he imagined how much more troublesome the punishment from his mother would be if he went through with the forfeit.

With feet dragging, the pineapple-haired Genin shuffled his way down the stairs and onto the field where the harsh glare of the morning sun beat down on him. Sluggishly moving towards the middle, he stopped opposite his opponent and failed to stifle the yawn that emerged from his mouth. This obviously had a different meaning to the furious kunoichi, whom had taken it as a sign that he thought that she was beneath him.

"Troublesome, why do I have to fight a woman again…" Shikamaru muttered, unknowingly digging his grave deeper.

Having sensed the growing ire in the foreign kunoichi, Genma did the smart thing and hightailed it out of there as his voice echoed throughout the stadium.

"Hajime!"

Not wasting any time, Temari flicked two kunai into her hands as she dashed forward. This action caught the resident Nara genius by surprise as he expected for her to resort to using her large cumbersome weapon, alas she did not fall prey to his veiled attempt at taunting her. A quick leap back put him out of range of her swipe, though the danger did not end there as she immediately launched her weapons at him.

Pulling out a kunai of his own, he used it to deflect the oncoming projectiles and his eye caught sight of her charging at him with fan in hand from his left flank. Sensing something amiss, he leapt back and palmed the kunai in his hand at her direction. Narrowing his eye in realisation when the kunai sailed right through the kunoichi, revealing that it was an ordinary Bunshin no Jutsu. With a start he remembered how she had glided down into the arena and snapped his head skywards in time to see her form falling towards him, battle fan brandished above her head.

Thinking quickly, he brought out a couple of smoke bomb and detonated them a moment before she slammed her fan into the ground with a roar of anger. The wind generated from the impact point served to instantly clear away the smokescreen, but it had already served its purpose as the Nara had performed a quick substitution with a log from the nearby forested area.

'Geez that would have killed me, troublesome woman…'

"I know you're hiding in there boy!" Temari called out as she glared at the small patch of forestry. 'If I remember correctly, the Nara clan uses shadow to attack and bind their opponents. So he is probably trying to lure me into the trees where there will be more cover and shadows for him to attack me with.

"Go Shikamaru! Get her with a sixteen-hit combo attack!" Ino shouted out from her seat.

"Not that I'm not happy but… *munch* don't you think that for Shikamaru to be in the finals *munch* it seems a little… out of place?" Chouji asked suddenly, between mouthfuls of his chips.

"Don't say something like that! Sure he may not be the strongest but Shikamaru is fantastic at coming up with strategies and plans, I have a feeling that is how we were able to make it through these exams in the first place!" Ino replied with a grin.

"Yeah I guess you're right… but he'll just quit soon anyway. I'm telling ya, Shika finds this kinds of things a hassle so he is definitely going to throw in the towel soon." Chouji stated with a shrug before going back to snacking on his chips.

"And this is me telling you that you're wrong! Just now he totally made his way down into the arena without anyone telling him to, he is surprisingly revved up for this match!" Ino said before standing up and punching her fist in the air. "Go Shikamaru! Kick her ass!"

"Tsk, troublesome blondes…" Said Genin muttered when he heard the shout before looking up at the sky. 'Look at those clouds… floating so freely up in the sky without a care in the world… I even became a shinobi because I thought it would make life more interesting.'

An image of Naruto standing triumphantly over the beaten form of the Hyuuga prodigy appeared in his mind, slowly a smirk made its way onto his face as he pressed his fingers together in a weird hand-sign.

'I suppose things can't always be that simple… and I can't look like a lame-ass after Naruto put up such a great show.'

Temari could feel her patience running thin as she waited for her opponent to show his face, she caught sight of a flicker of movement just as a handful of kunai launched out of the foliage in her direction. She brought her fan about and deflected the weapons with ease, looking up she saw the Nara leaning against the trunk of a tree with a bored look on his face.

"Troublesome woman, why are you making this longer than it has to be…?" He drawled, digging a finger into his ear.

"That's it punk! You asked for it!" Temari roared in anger as she snapped her battle fan fully open, exposing all three moons as she reared it backwards in preparation.

"Futon: Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Wind Release: Sickle Weasel Technique)!"

A large hurricane-like gale blasted forward and smashed into the forested area of the arena, this resulted in a large cloud of debris and smoke being thrown into the air. Eyeing the cloud carefully, Temari instantly sprang backwards when a tendril of shadow shot out from the smoke in her direction. A couple more leaps and the shadow seemed to be stretched to its limit, which she quickly marked in the dirt with the edge of her fan.

"Temari above you!"

Hearing the warning from Kankuro, she looked up in shock to see a barrage of kunai falling towards her. Manoeuvring her fan into a makeshift shield, she hid behind it as the kunai peppered the area around her. Feeling the impacts stop, she peeked out to see her opponent slightly roughed up from her attack.

"Not bad, you managed to dodge that… though you did get some help… troublesome…" Shikamaru sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Temari narrowed her eyes as she re-appraised the Genin that stood before her, 'I need to stop underestimating him, it could cost me that match.'

"What was that? I didn't think Shikamaru would put up such a good fight!" Kurenai exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah the brat didn't strike me as much!" Anko added in.

"To actually calculate the angle and strength required for the kunai to land in the spot he wanted, whilst distracting and guiding her to the spot using his shadow… incredible!"

"You know… Shikamaru-kun is great at planning strategies, so much so that I have never won a single game of Shogi or Go against him before." Asuma stated with a weird smile on his bearded face.

"You're speaking of a board game, this is a real battle you know!" Kurenai said, upset that he was not taking her seriously.

"It is said that those games originally had their roots as a device for tacticians to plan their wars with. So I guess you could say that Shikamaru has the making of a genius tactician." Asuma replied calmly, still nursing his expression as well as cigarette.

"Genius? We are talking about the same Shikamaru that had grades equal to that of Naruto in the academy right?"

"Well he always claimed that it was too much trouble to fill in all the answers, so he chose to do those that required the least effort but still granted him a passing score. That always struck me as strange since he excelled at strategy games so I had him take an IQ-test in the guise of a game…"

"So… how was the result?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah beardy, don't keep us in suspense!" Anko chimed in once again.

"He sure was a diamond in the rough…" Asuma said, his expression finally morphing into a proud smile. "He is a super genius with an IQ over two hundred!"

"T-two hundred?!" Kurenai exclaimed in shock, as did several other eavesdroppers, while Anko just whistled in surprise.

"Just watch, I'm sure he will surprise us again…"

Deciding to take the match more seriously, the Suna kunoichi fuelled her technique with significantly more chakra than before and unleashed it with a shout.

"Futon: Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Wind Release: Sickle Weasel Technique)!"

As the wall of roaring wind rushed towards him, Shikamaru drew a kunai and darted behind a tree trunk to endure the attack whilst removing his vest. Fumbling around for a moment as the attack started to settle down, he launched a handful of kunai at his opponent before darting towards another location and firing off another salvo.

Temari leapt away as soon as the first wave of kunai flew in her direction, only to curse when the second salvo zoned in towards her landing spot. Analysing her available options, she spun around and used her fan as a prop to vault over the spot as the kunai slammed harmlessly into the frame of the battle fan. Unfortunately that was not the end as her eyes caught sight of the shadow making its way towards her once again, she calmed somewhat when she noticed that she was well behind the marked line in the dirt.

'What?!'

To her shock, the shadow did not slow down and instead shot past the dirt line and towards the point where her fan connected to the ground. Without any choice, she chose to relinquish her main weapon and pushed herself off with a grimace when she noticed that her opponent had used the shadow cast by her fan to continue extending his reach.

She found herself in the routine of leaping away again, something that she deeply hated as it made her look weak. Temari allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief when the shadow once again thinned out and slowed to a stop, the point of which she marked with her foot.

"I see, you wasted time for the sun to shift position in the sky so as to extend the reach of your attack. Also forcing me to use my fan in such a manner that benefitted you… I severely underestimated you." Temari grudgingly admitted.

"It's not over yet…" The Nara genius replied cryptically.

"What do you mean-?" Her eyes widened when a black dot on the ground slowly expanded into a growing shadow, springing backwards she glanced up to see that her opponent had created a makeshift parachute using his vest, headband and a kunai.

Sweat dripped down his head as he focused on his technique, Shikamaru could feel himself tiring already but persevered as he pumped more chakra to increase the speed of his shadow and sighed in relief when he finally felt it catch hold of his opponent.

"Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Imitation Technique)… success."

"Tsk…" Temari clicked her teeth in annoyance as she did not expect the technique to suddenly increase in speed, she felt the effects soon as she was forced to walk forward a few paces.

"Surrender…" Shikamaru called out from across the arena.

Noticing the fatigue in his tone as well as the expression on his face, "Or what? It looks like you're going to run out of chakra soon."

"Or…" Here he reached out, forcing her to do the same, and snatched at the empty air above him though this was not the same for her as she grabbed the makeshift parachute out of the air. "I detonate this explosive tag in your hand."

A brief scan of the object in her hand revealed that he was not bluffing, there was indeed a primed explosive tag adhered to the back of the vest. Realising that she was defeated, Temari called out to the proctor.

"I… forfeit."

"Sabaku no Temari forfeits this match! The winner is Nara Shikamaru!" Genma announced, earning a roar of approval throughout the stadium.

"See I told you that he would win!" Ino pointed out to Chouji, who had dropped his chips in shock.

"No way…"

"Yeah! Go Shikamaru!" Ino cheered, though she was soon joined by a majority of the Konoha Genin.

"Impressive…" Naruto said as he eyed the lazy genius in a new light.

As he stood in the centre of the arena with the audience cheering his name, Shikamaru allowed a smile to form on his face as he placed his hands in his pocket and shuffled back towards the stairs.

'That wasn't so bad… though I still would rather be cloud-watching…'

Genma shook his head with a smirk as he watched the lethargic Genin, "The one that nobody had any expectations of… turned out to be a real dark horse I would say."

Just as he was about to call out the next match, a slight surge of chakra usage followed by a tornado of leaves appeared in the centre of the arena. As the technique died down, it revealed the figures of Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke standing back to back though it looked rather comical due to the height difference between them.

"Name?" Genma asked with a serious tone, though mainly just to annoy them.

"Uchiha… Sasuke." He replied in his usual arrogant tone, though his wardrobe did change slightly.

He had foregone his usual blue shirt, white shorts combo for a new set of clothes. A black high-collared tee with the Uchiha emblem displayed on the back, a pair of black shorts and bandages wrapped around both legs as well as his left arm.

"Kya! Sasuke-kun is finally here!" Ino and Sakura shouted together, resulting in them butting heads again.

'You worked so hard for your victory and she has already forgotten about you, sorry Shika…' Chouji thought to himself, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips at the familiar sight of the two rivals.

"Told ya he would come." Naruto stated with a grin, arms crossed across his chest.

"Troublesome…" Shikamaru added as he emerged from the stairwell, though a grin could be seen on his face. 'I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for this match as well...'

Meanwhile in the other part of the booth, the two elder Suna Genin were watching their younger brother with unease. Gaara had a maniacal expression on his face the moment his black-haired opponent had appeared, a hand placed over his face as his breathing intensified.

'Don't worry mother, I am going to kill him… I'm definitely going to kill him!'

'Shit! I haven't seen Gaara like this in a long time…' Temari cursed as she clenched her fists subconsciously.

"H-hey Gaara, don' forget about the plan-" Kankuro was cut off when his sister clamped her hand down hard over his mouth, her voice whispered harshly into his ear before he could even utter a protest.

"Don't talk to Gaara right now… unless you want to be killed."

"I'm going to kill him… mother will be happy once I paint the sand with his blood!" Gaara laughed aloud as he turned around and descended down the steps, his laughter echoing throughout the corridor.

The two siblings could only glance at each other in worry.

"Sorry… are we late?" Kakashi directed the question towards the annoyed-looking proctor, who was considering shooting his senbon between the eyes of the Elite Jounin.

"Your tardiness seems to be rubbing off on your subordinates Kakashi-sempai…" Genma drawled as he tilted his head in the direction of the stands. "Your blond-haired brat also arrived by the skin of his neck, a second more and he would have been disqualified."

Locating Naruto proved to be harder than he thought, though that could be because both members of Team 7 were looking for an obscenely bright orange jumpsuit. They soon managed to find him and what they found gave them a shock, Naruto looked drastically different than when they had last saw him.

"Yeah I was shocked too when he appeared, apparently he did a lot of growing up over the month. Defeated the Hyuuga prodigy in a straight up Taijutsu fight." Genma smirked when he noticed that the usually laidback man bolted up right upon hearing that, even the resident Uchiha prodigy snapped his head over.

"What did you just say?! Naruto managed to defeat Hyuuga Neji, a prodigy in the Jūken (Gentle Fist) style of combat, in a Taijutsu only fight?" Kakashi looked absolutely stunned at the information, not to say the Genin accompanying him was any different.

"The dobe?! He managed to defeat Neji in a Taijutsu fight?!" Sasuke asked in disbelief, his eyes travelling from the proctor to the stands and back again.

"Would you like me to repeat it again? Uzumaki Naruto completely dominated Hyuuga Neji in an entirely one-sided fight, it doesn't get more detailed than that. Unless you would like me to submit a report on the step-by-step beat down he delivered as well as the number of bones broken?"

'Eh that won't be needed." Kakashi replied quickly as could sense the growing annoyance within his fellow shinobi. "So I take it that Sasuke here hasn't been disqualified yet?"

"Fortunately he was not, though his tardiness will weigh heavily on his chances at promoting to the rank of Chunnin." Genma stated.

"What?! They can't do that!" Needless to say the Uchiha progeny was less than pleased.

"Not happy with the result? Take it up with Hokage-sama, it was his decision. Or maybe…" Genma paused as he glared at the Genin in front of him, taking note that the boy was taking an aggressive stance against a superior. "Try being on time."

"That's fine right Sasuke?" Kakashi said as he tried to ease the tension, though the grip he had on the shoulder of his Genin tightened considerably. "You just have to impress them even more during your fights, that shouldn't pose a problem to you now right?"

His decision to target the famous pride of the Uchiha clan proved to be the correct course of action as the raven-haired Genin scoffed and turned towards the darkened entrance corridor, a feeling of pure bloodlust seemed to flow out from its depths. That feeling soon revealed itself in the form of the son of the Yondaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara. Hunching over slightly, Kakashi could not help but whisper one last statement of advice to his student.

"Do not underestimate this boy Sasuke, he is much stronger than anyone you have faced before."

"Hn…"

And with that, the masked Jounin instructor stepped back and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Genma felt a tingle of unease travel up his spine when he got a closer look at the expression on the Suna Genin's face, it was the picture of a perfect poker face. Though that was not the disturbing part, it was the depravity and insanity that hid behind the soulless-looking eyes that troubled the man.

"The final fight of the quarterfinals between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara is about to begin, are both participants ready?" Genma asked, earning two curt nods.

"Hajime!"

Taking to note whatever Kakashi had been drilling into him about his opponent over the past month, Sasuke immediately put some distance between him and his target through several leaps. Coming to a stop, he dipped his hand into his holster and withdrew several shuriken whilst eyeing up his opponent.

'So that's the sand that Kakashi was warning me about.' Sasuke mused internally when he noticed the cloud of sand that emerged from the gourd strapped to his opponent. 'Time to test that defence of his…'

Flinging the handful of shuriken at his opponent, he kicked off from his position and started circling the perimeter of the stadium whilst launching projectiles from each angle. This did not seem to fluster the redhead in any way as his sand formed a protective wall between him and the projectiles, even those that came from a blind spot in his vision.

'So it's like some form of automatic defence, he doesn't even seem to be aware of the attacks yet the sand blocks them effectively.' Sasuke frowned when he noticed that the sand had started shifting into a clone, its hand clutching the shuriken that had been blocked.

Responding in kind, the Uchiha heir blazed through a series of hand-seals before inhaling deeply and cupping a hand around his mouth.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"

Starting out as a small stream of fire that leapt to life from the mouth, the stream grew exponentially in a few seconds into a large fiery ball of death that hurtled towards the sand clone. Seeing the deadly comet approaching, Gaara threw up a hand and more sand flowed from his gourd to reinforce the sand construct. A loud explosion rang through the air as the two techniques collided, resulting in a cloud of black smoke that obscured vision.

This proved to be part of his plan as Sasuke burst out from the cover of the smoke and delivered a powerful palm thrust into the chest of the sand clone, the force blowing the construct apart. Without missing a beat, he pressed his advantage by striking outward with a kunai he had hidden in his other hand. Although it was countered by a small shield of sand that intercepted the strike, Sasuke had already disappeared in a blur of speed and circled round to the back of his opponent.

"That speed and posture…" Gai said as he glanced at his self-proclaimed rival. 'It's the same as Lee when he takes his weights off.'

"Yes, I've hammered into him the importance of speed in battle… especially against an opponent of this calibre. The Goken (Strong Fist) style of Taijutsu has its basics in hitting hard and fast, so it was only natural that I had him learn some of the basics." Kakashi admitted as he watched the match intently.

"Lee was much faster and stronger yet it did not triumph in the end against that Genin, I hope Taijutsu was not the only thing that you taught him over this past month." Gai said in one of his rare serious moments.

"Don't worry, I believe that Sasuke has not shown all of his tricks yet." Asuma turned around in his seat and looked at his masked companion. "Isn't that right Kakashi?"

"Hmm… I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Asuma sighed in resignation at being the target of Kakashi's hip attitude, turning back around and placing his attention back on the match seemed to be the only option left.

Capitalizing on his newfound speed that threw off his opponent, Sasuke delivered a powerful right hook that connected solidly against the cheek of the red-haired boy. Stumbling back slightly, Gaara felt the thin layer of sand armour fall from around his face where the blow had landed. The maniacal grin resurfaced once again, eyes dilated in a turmoil of different emotions.

"You hit me… just like that boy before! You too will contribute as proof of my existence!"

Not wasting any time, Sasuke blurred forward in a display of speed that his opponent could not follow or react in time to. Bypassing the outer sand defences with ease, the raven-haired boy landed a powerful kick to the gut followed by lurching forward and grabbing hold of the sash that his opponent wore. A series of blows followed through, each of them impacting against the sand armour.

Darting back to avoid a tendril of sand that tried to sneak under his guard, his Sharingan snapped to life and he proceeded to literally run circles around his opponent so fast that dust was being kicked up into the air. Gaara brought up his sand in an attempt to form a defensive line but the moment a gap was spotted, Sasuke dashed in and delivered a powerful high-kick that connected with the jaw of his opponent.

Gaara flew backwards and landed in a crumpled heap, his sand armour falling apart due to its high rate of chakra consumption and repeated attempts at rebuilding it. Despite all this and the beating he had just been through, the redhead still kept up his insane grin as his sand swirled around him in an erratic manner.

"Yes… mother will be pleased with your blood…" Gaara muttered to himself as he pressed his hands together into a hand-seal causing all the sand to start collating around him.

'Mother? What is this guy talking about?' Sasuke shook his head free of the errant thought, his Doujutsu informing him of how densely packed the sand was with the chakra of his opponent. 'It must be some form of last resort defence…'

Deciding to catch his opponent before he could complete that technique of his, the Uchiha dashed forth with his maximum speed. Unfortunately the sand had already formed into a dense sphere by the time he got close enough, skidding to a stop just as he was about to impale himself upon the spikes of sand that had suddenly jutted out from the surface of the sphere. Above the sphere, the remaining sand was formed into a floating eyeball that locked onto the form of the frowning Uchiha.

"Shit it's that jutsu…" Kankuro cursed as he gripped the railing with clenched fists.

'This is bad! Gaara has forgotten about the plan entirely!' Temari groaned inside her head, her nervousness causing sweat to roll down her neck.

"Damn! Once Gaara gets like this, there's no way to talk him out of it…" The puppeteer whispered to his sister, who turned towards him and whispered back.

"Does Gaara want to mess up the plan? What are we supposed to do in this situation?"

Unknown to both of them, Naruto frowned when he picked up on their conversation through the use of boosting his sense of hearing via the Force. His mind already trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle that he had gathered, though he noted that Shino had picked up on the last bit of conversation as well.

Back on the field, Sasuke cursed as he failed to find any point of weakness through his various attempts at striking it. He had tried Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and even a couple of exploding notes but nothing seemed to put a dent into that sphere.

'Looks like he is going to just sit there until I tire myself out… well looks like it's the perfect time to use my new jutsu since it takes quite a bit of time to set up.' Sasuke mused before turning around and running towards and then up the wall of the stadium.

'Monkey, dragon, rat, bird, ox, snake, dog, tiger, monkey… now to focus it into my hand.' He flashed through the hand-seals before clutching the wrist of his left hand as lightning-natured chakra flickered to life.

"No… Kakashi don't tell me you thought him THAT Jutsu!" Gai asked suddenly as he glanced over at his masked rival.

"Sasuke needed a trump card to win against his opponent, an absolute attack to clash against the absolute defence." Kakashi replied, intent on justifying himself. "Plus the person who taught his own student how to open the Hachimon (Eight Gates) shouldn't be questioning others on their teaching methods…"

"Tsk, so this is why you had been training him exclusively on his speed and Taijutsu."

"Yup!" Kakashi said with his patented eye-smile.

"Utilising the piercing power of lightning-natured chakra as well as the kinetic energy gained through his speed, you created your only original jutsu that was immediately labelled as an assassination technique due to its nature. With the screech generated by the lightning nature of the jutsu that sounds like a thousand birds chasing after you, it was with this technique that you were able to cut through a bolt of lightning." Gai explained aloud for the benefit of those who had not seen the technique in action before, all of them watching closely as the Uchiha heir disappeared in a flash of lightning as he blasted towards his opponent. "That technique is called…"

"Chidori (One Thousand Birds)!"

Sasuke smirked as he felt his hand sink straight through the hardened defences of the sphere and pierce through the flesh of his opponent, he could feel the warm texture of blood that seeped out onto his hand. Though his smirk did not last long as he felt something unnatural grabbing onto his arm from his inside, his attempt to retrieve his arm resulted in failure and panic started to seep in when he felt the grip starting to tighten. Running through his options, he calmed down and released a blast of lightning-natured chakra through his hand that allowed him to yank it free when the grip loosened.

His eyes widened when he noticed that the tendril of sand that had gripped onto his arm had blue veins situated along its length, he stifled a gasp when he trailed it back up into the hole and saw a strange golden-patterned eye glaring back at him.

'What… the hell was that?' He thought as he tried to calm down his breathing.

The dense sphere of sand soon fell apart to reveal the insane visage of the red-haired Suna Genin, a hand pressed tightly against his shoulder where blood could be seen soaking through the cloth and onto his hand.

"No way… Gaara was wounded!" Kankuro exclaimed in shock.

"He managed to injure Gaara, undoing the cocoon before the transformation could complete…" Temari bit her lower lip, worried for both herself as well as her brothers.

'Transformation eh?' Naruto mused mentally, silently observing the two siblings.

"Blood… it's my blood!"

Before the match could proceed any further, a curtain of feathers proceeded to fall over the stadium. Its effect revealed when multitudes of civilian and Genin-level shinobi started falling asleep, unable to resist the sleep-inducing effects of the technique. Those that were well versed in the arts of recognising Genjutsu or had accumulated enough experience over the years were quick to break its effect, just in time to see the Kage booth explode in a large cloud of smoke.

Naruto managed to negate the effects of the Genjutsu by channelling the power of the Force to cleanse his body of the foreign chakra, he turned towards the prone figure of Shikamaru and kicked him roughly in the side.

"You can stop pretending, I know you're awake."

"Troublesome…" The Nara mumbled as he accepted the helping hand up.

The duo looked up just in time to see the figure of the Kazekage leap out from the smoke, his hand secured tightly around the throat of the elderly Sandaime Hokage. They were quickly pursued by several figures that looked like ANBU members as well as several other foreign shinobi. As if the current level of pandemonium was not enough, there were several sounds of explosions going off throughout the village before even more screaming started.

Movements from several of the civilians that surrounded their portion of the stands drew their attention, the disguises were soon thrown off to reveal shinobi from both Sunagakure (Hidden Sand) as well as Otogakure (Hidden Sound). Taking a quick glance around, Naruto spotted that several of his classmates had managed to break the Genjutsu and that the two sand siblings had leapt down into the arena to assist their crazed younger brother.

"Well… it looks like we're being invaded." Naruto quipped as he turned to face the advancing enemy shinobi.

"Troublesome…"

"Highest number of enemy taken down wins?"

"Don't even think about it…"

"Well… more for me then!" Naruto roared as he leapt into the fray.

* * *

><p><strong>Well that concludes the end of the Chunnin Exams and marks the beginning of the Suna-Oto Invasion arc! This chapter was a honestly a pain to write as it basically followed canon except for a few exceptions, the major one being the Shikamaru-Temari fight as I felt like changing it up a bit.<strong>

**I know that there was not a lot of screen-time for Naruto this round as I wanted to flesh out the other characters more, we also see the introduction of Hanabi-chan this chapter! Yay! There will definitely be more of her in future chapter so stay tuned!**

**I promise that there will be more Naruto in the next chapter, things will really start diverting from canon as well!**


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